The Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp received one of the five “Special Commendations” at the 2015 European Museum of the Year awards (EMYA). The prize-giving ceremony took place at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow, Antwerp authorities said on Sunday. The Red Star Line Museum was awarded “for the way it deals with a sensitive and divisive issue like immigration in a historical context, and for the human way it chose to approach it.” “There were long-standing museums as well as very successful institutions like Titanic Belfast among the nominees. That makes these awards unique”, says the Antwerp museum’s director.
Since its opening in September 2013, the Red Star Line Museum has received more than 270,000 visitors. It has also won other awards such as the Flanders Tourism Award for best tourist attraction, the 2014 public award and the Wablieft award, which awards clear language.
The Antwerp culture councilor Philip Heylen (Christian Democrats) will soon sign a cooperation agreement between the Ellis Island Immigration Museum and the Red Star Line Museum. This agreement concerns the “Via Antwerp” exhibition, which will open at Ellis Island on the 26th of May 2016. The biggest prize awarded in Glasgow on Saturday went to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum.
(Source: Belga)
